Trauma
by Lisa Moulton
Summary: Rose is confused, upset and angry. She doesn't understand what happened, and, on top of everything else, the Doctor's regeneration is going wrong.


**Author's** **Notes: After getting my grubby mitts on a copy of the "Children in Need" _Doctor Who_ special featuring David Tennant as the new Doctor # 10, I decided I liked it (and him) so much that I wanted to write it out as a story. The italicized part of the beginning was taken from my mini-story, _Regeneration_.**

_When he next looked at them with his new brown eyes, he was not the man they'd known. He had become Doctor Number Ten. "Hallo," he said, his voice unlike what he'd previously sounded like, then paused, running his tongue over his teeth. "New teeth. That's weird." He looked away for a moment. "So, where was I?" His gaze returned to the two girls. "Oh, that's right! Barcelona!" He smiled as Lisa and Rose just regarded him with their mixed and frazzled emotions._

The new Doctor darted over to the TARDIS console, twisting dials and pressing buttons. "Six PM…Tuesday…October…5006." He straightened. "On the way to Barcelona!"

Rose was staring at him from her position against a column, while Lisa was looking him up and down, regarding the new body. Lisa, of course, knew exactly what had happened, as she'd seen it many times before. She looked on this situation as exciting, while she could sense that Rose, confused, hurt and angry, didn't like it at all.

"Now, then," said the Doctor. "What do I look like? No, no, no-no, no, no, no, no. Don't tell me. Let's see…" He glanced down at himself. "Two legs, two arms, two hands." He felt his right wrist, rotating it. "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubicle…" His hands flew to his head. "Hair! I'm not bald! Big hair." His hands traveled down his face. "Sideburns. I've got sideburns! Ooh, really bad skin." His patted his stomach. "Little bit thinner, that's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." His hands went behind his back, and a rather astonished expression crossed his face. "I…" he said slowly, "have got a mole…I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole." Mistaking Rose's befuddled expression, he said, "It's all right. Love the mole." He looked from Rose to Lisa and back, smiling wide. "Go on, then, tell me. What do you think?"

Lisa's opinion was, "I like it, actually." She walked to his side, taking his hands in hers, holding them, getting a feel for them as it were. The Doctor smiled down at her. She raised one hand to his face, running her fingers through his hair, then gently down his cheek, looking into the new brown eyes, and she smiled.

Rose, however, wasn't convinced. There was a long pause, then, "Who are you?"

Both the Doctor and Lisa turned to look at her. "I'm the Doctor," he said.

Rose shook her head. "No…" she said quietly, "where is he?" She started to get angry. "Where's the Doctor? What have you done to him?!"

"Rose," Lisa began, but the Doctor cut her off.

"You saw me," he said, pointing his thumb behind him. "I changed, right in front of you."

"I saw him sort of…explode, and then…you replaced him, like a…teleport or a…transmat or a…body swap or something." She walked up to him, pushing past Lisa – annoying her – and pushed him in the chest with her hand. "You're not foolin' me. I've seen all sorts of things…nanogenes, Gelth…Slitheen. Oh, my god, are you Slitheen?"

Lisa frowned and scoffed. "Rose, give me a break!" Now, she was angry. "He's much too thin to have a Slitheen inside him."

The Doctor shook his head. "She's right. I'm not a Slitheen."

"Send him back," demanded Rose. "I'm warnin' you, send the Doctor back, right now!"

"Rose!" said the Doctor. "It's me. Honestly, it's me. I was dying. To save my life, I changed my body. Every single cell, but…still me."

"Rose," said Lisa, "I've seen it…" She glanced at the Doctor, as he'd just placed a hand on her shoulder, sending her a look and a telepathic message, _Don't tell her you saw it more than once_. She frowned, and said, "I've seen it happen before. It's called regeneration."

Rose, however, wasn't listening. She shook her head, still staring at this stranger who calls himself the Doctor. "You can't be."

The Doctor left Lisa's side and went to her. "Then, how can I remember this?" he asked. "Very first word I ever said to you…" He stared into her eyes. "Trapped in that cellar…surrounded by shop window dummies. Ooh, such a long time ago. I took your hand…" And he did, here, now. "And I said one word…just one word, I said…" He dropped his voice to a whisper, " 'Run!'."

Very quietly, still unsure, Rose whispered, "Doctor…?"

He grinned big. "Hello!"

Rose pulled away as the Doctor ran around the console. "And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe!" He began fiddling with the controls. "Running, running, running. And that one time we had to hop, do you remember?" He proceeded to hop up and down on one foot, making Lisa extremely nervous, for she was concerned about his condition. Post-regeneration, he was always a little unstable. "Hopping for our lives. Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah? Hop? All that…" He caught the still-upset look on Rose's face. "No?" he asked quietly.

"Can you change back?" she asked.

"Do you want me to?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…"

"Can you?"

"No." He paused. "Do you want to leave?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No," he said, "but, your choice, if you wanna go home." He went to the controls. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to…London, the Powell Estate…uh, let's say 24th December. Consider it a Christmas present." A bell dinged and the engines _thunked_. "There." He crossed his arms as the TARDIS sped through the vortex.

"I'm goin' 'ome?" Rose asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "Up to you. Back to your mum. Still waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast. No, Christmas. Turkey! Although…having met your mother…nut loaf would be more appropriate."

Rose, despite herself, smiled.

"Was that a smile?" the Doctor asked, gently teasing.

"No."

"That was a smile."

"No, it wasn't."

"Lisa?"

"She smiled," she offered.

"No, I didn't."

The Doctor was a little put off, now. "Oh, come on! All I did was change, I didn't – " He suddenly convulsed and gasped in pain, the TARDIS shaking, as if feeling what the Doctor was.

Lisa, of course, felt it, as their link was still intact. "Doctor…"

"What?" Rose asked.

The Doctor, looking confused, said, "I said I didn't – " He convulsed again as the TARDIS shuddered once more. "Uh oh…" he said.

Rose was even more distressed, now. "Uh…are you all right?"

The Doctor was breathing hard, and a cloud of golden light escaped from his mouth. It was the same light of the time vortex he'd absorbed to save Rose's life and what had caused the regeneration in the first place. Lisa was at his side in an instant, not going to allow him to keep her away like he did when he regenerated. She had to be there, even if she couldn't do anything.

"What's that?" asked Rose.

"Oh…" gasped the Doctor. "The change is going a bit wrong – " He convulsed yet again, doubling over. Lisa tried her best to keep him on his feet.

"Look," said Rose, "maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'll know what to do."

They'd left Captain Jack Harkness in the year 200,000 on the Game Station after the Dalek attack.

"Aw," the Doctor said, though his tone could either have been angry or in pain, they couldn't tell. "He's busy! He's got plenty to do, rebuilding the Earth." Still bent over, he noticed a switch on the lip of the console, his eyes drawn to it. "I haven't use this one in years…" He flipped the switch and the TARDIS shook violently, throwing all three of its occupants off balance.

"What're you doing?" Rose shouted, grasping the console.

"Putting on a bit of speed!" said the Doctor, now filled with a manic sort of energy. "That's it!" He began twisting more dials. "My beautiful ship. Come on, faster! That a girl!" He started muttering and shouting, things like, "Faster!" and something about time that neither Rose nor Lisa could catch.

"Doctor!" Lisa shouted, while Rose opted for, "Stop it!"

"Oh, come on!" he said, a look akin to either anger or annoyance on his face. "Don't be dull; let's have a bit of fun! Let's _rip_ through that vortex!" Suddenly, his expression softened, and, in a moment of lucidity, he said, "The regeneration's going wrong…I can't stop myself…" He grimaced in pain, and it was a look Lisa had seen too many times before. "Oh, my…" he groaned, doubling over again, then his head snapped back up, the manic gleam in his eyes again. "Faster!" he shouted. "Let's open those engines!"

A tolling bell and an alarm sounded from within the TARDIS walls.

Rose looked up. "What's that?"

"Cloister bell!" shouted Lisa. "It's a warning!"

The Doctor appeared beside Rose. "Crash land!" he said, laughing.

"Well, then _do_ something!" Rose demanded.

"Too late!" said the Doctor. "Out of control!" Whatever he said next was drowned out by the alarm and cloister.

"You're gonna kill us!" shrieked Rose.

"Hold on tight!" shouted the Doctor. "Here we go! Christmas Eve!"

_The End_


End file.
